On the final possession of Wednesday's game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Atlanta Hawks, the Wolves' Taurean Prince should have been called for a foul. Crew chief Ben Taylor said this in a brief interview with a pool reporter after Minnesota's 125-124 win:
QUESTION: Why was there not a foul called on Saddiq Bey's last shot on the last possession?
TAYLOR: On post-game review we see it. It appears that Prince moves back into Bey's space, and we should have assessed a foul on the play.
QUESTION: And for clarification, was that a landing space or was he making contact?
TAYLOR: Looks like from one of the angles that we have, that he backs on the rebounding action as the ball is coming down, and he is moving backwards into him and delivers a little bit of contact there.
Taylor's transparency is cold comfort for the Hawks, according to star guard Trae Young. After the game, Young posted the pool report as an Instagram story, with some comments.
"We don't care now," Young wrote.
Also: "This goes back to my statement I said at the beginning of the year, refs should be held more accountable ($, suspensions, etc.) just like us. They shouldn't get 'We missed it' passes."
The statement from the beginning of the year appears to be a pair of tweets in September, in which Young wrote that the media should be able to interview referees after games in order to hold them accountable.
Instead of just making a call & moving on, now the call will mean something to THEM as well. #Accountability 🤷🏽♂️
— Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) September 29, 2022
Evidently, Young no longer thinks that interviewing referees is sufficient -- he wants punishment.
Young is not the only one to gripe about officiating-related matters recently. Earlier this month, Fred VanVleet of the Toronto Raptors blasted Taylor by name and was fined $30,000 for it. On Wednesday, after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams said his team isn't getting a fair whistle.
